Team Herald
PONDA: With a cold response to auctioning of shops on rent, the Ponda Municipal Council ( PMC) at its special meeting finally resolved to lease out the idle 13-year-old new market complex for a period of ten years to fetch revenue.
“The council at its special meeting decided to lease out the new market complex for ten years as this would also fetch regular revenue,” said Chairperson Anand Naik.
He said this decision was arrived at as the council was grappling with the challenge of revenue collection from the New Market Complex as despite the civic body tried auctioning it on six occasions, there were no takers.
Naik said that despite the latest auction attempt last month, interest in the individual shops and offices has been minimal. “PMC had put up shops and offices on auction, but there were no takers, and we have concluded that renting out these shops individually is not feasible," he said, adding that 20 to 30 shops that are in operation would remain in the PMC's possession.
“The council drew inspiration from Curchorem Municipality's approach, where it leased out its entire building after GSUDA approval, and are now successfully generating revenue,” stated Naik.
After reviewing this model, PMC agreed to lease the entire new market complex for commercial purposes, retaining a few shops for emergency use.
The four-storey project inaugurated in December 2011 has remained largely under utilised, with only 26 of its 154 units operational.